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Appendix A - Program Profiles
Illinois Future Steps
Building Nebraska Families
Tennessee First Wheels
| Illinois Future Steps | return to top |
Overview and Objectives
Future Steps aimed to help low-income people in southern Illinois become employed and improve their employment circumstances through intensive case management and job placement assistance. Its program model featured a set of core services, including (1) an initial assessment of skills and interests; (2) individualized job search and skills enhancement plans; (3) help overcoming personal and logistical barriers to employment through outside referrals, supportive service payments, and mentoring; (4) postemployment support; and (5) vocational training tailored to local employers’ needs.
Future Steps operated from July 2001 through June 2003, enrolling TANF clients who were required to work and low-income people who volunteered to participate. The program enrolled 313 clients during the demonstration period, about one-quarter of whom were on TANF.
Service Delivery
After Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) caseworkers referred a client to Future Steps, career specialists used a standardized career assessment tool and skills/barriers checklists to gather details about the client’s employment history and job skills and begin identifying potential barriers to employment. Future Steps staff helped clients search for jobs by specifying tasks that would lead to employment (such as completing a resume and submitting applications), monitoring their progress in completing these tasks, sharing information about available jobs, and contacting potential employers on clients’ behalf.
To address employment barriers, Future Steps staff counseled clients on job-related and personal issues and referred them to local providers of training, health care, child care, and other services. Staff also drew on flexible supportive service funds—up to $500 per client—to help clients meet a variety of employment-related and personal expenses, including transportation, job-related equipment and clothing, and housing and utilities bills.
After a client found a job, the Future Steps career specialist provided postemployment support by following up with the employer and helping resolve any issues that arose for clients on the job. Clients generally received regular support until they reached 90 days of employment. After this, they could access Future Steps services as needed.
Administration and Institutional Partners
Future Steps developed through a collaboration between the career services center of Shawnee Community College (SCC) and IDHS. Responsibility for day-to-day administration of the program rested with the community college; IDHS funded Future Steps and referred clients to the program. The Future Steps staff included the director of community and career services at SCC, a program coordinator, and several career specialists, who worked directly with clients. Future Steps career specialists were stationed in local IDHS offices.
Program Context
Geography and Economy. Five counties in southern Illinois—Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski, and Union—made up the Future Steps service area. The area has a population of 63,720, according to the 2000 Census, and is almost entirely rural. More than four-fifths of its residents are white; African Americans (about 13 percent of residents) represent the second-largest racial group. All five counties face economic challenges, including poverty rates above the statewide average (as high as 26 percent in Alexander County) and scarce employment opportunities. The area has a few large employers, including chemical and cement factories, state prisons, and a riverboat casino.
Welfare Policy. Illinois places a high priority on welfare clients’ rapid attachment to work. People not covered under the state TANF program’s few exemptions must engage in work activities for 30 hours a week (35 hours for two-parent households). At caseworkers’ discretion, a small number of clients may participate in education and training to meet part of their work requirement, but these are generally considered secondary activities. The state’s TANF policies also provide positive incentives for paid employment in the form of a generous earned income disregard and transitional eligibility for Medicaid and child care.
Key Implementation Experiences
- Future Steps appeared to offer substantially
more individualized support than would be available to clients otherwise.
Because IDHS caseworkers carried large caseloads (usually between 200
and 400 cases), their ability to provide personal assistance to clients
was constrained. In contrast, Future Steps staff members carried small
caseloads (approximately 15 to 35 clients), for whom they could provide
tailored job search support and mentoring.
- A strong collaboration between SCC and
IDHS, including the co-location of Future Steps and IDHS staff, helped
smooth the startup and operation of the program. Administrators
at SCC and IDHS perceived the partnership between the two organizations
to be strong. The two organizations had collaborated previously on a
precursor to Future Steps, the Advancing Opportunities program. Regional
and local IDHS administrators provided input on Future Steps’
design, which helped garner strong support for the program. Co-location
of Future Steps and IDHS staff help promote referrals to the program
and facilitated ongoing communication between Future Steps career specialists
and IDHS caseworkers and administrators.
- Staff turnover created challenges for
the program in its second year, and one of the program’s planned
services—employer-focused job training—did not materialize.
Several staff members—including the SCC career services director,
the program coordinator, and some career specialists—left Future
Steps over the course of the program. Some of these positions were left
unfilled. Because of the small size of the Future Steps staff, this
turnover led to short-term breaks or slowdowns in service delivery.
Future Steps did not offer employer-focused vocational training, apparently
due to fiscal pressures within SCC, difficulty partnering with the local
workforce development organization, and the strict work requirement
facing many clients, which limited their education and training options.
- Many Future Steps clients appeared to enter employment. According to data from the Future Steps management information system, about two-thirds of clients became employed at least once after entering the program. More than 40 percent of these clients were employed at least three months. Job turnover was common, however; of employed clients, nearly 3 in 10 became employed three times or more during the six-month period following their enrollment into Future Steps.
| Building Nebraska Families | return to top |
Overview
Building Nebraska Families (BNF) is an intensive preemployment, educational program for TANF clients in rural areas who face serious personal and family barriers and skill deficiencies. The program targets hard-to-employ clients and aims to help them develop the basic skills necessary to engage in employment activities. BNF educators, who are master’s-level professionals, work closely with participants, using research-based curricula to teach such life skills topics as self-esteem, healthy relationships, parenting, goal setting, problem solving, money management, and communication skills.
BNF began enrolling evaluation sample members in March 2002 and will continue doing so through August 2004. The program expects to serve 330 clients during this period.
Service Delivery
BNF educators and clients work together to identify clients’ personal goals and create an individualized education and support plan to meet those goals. Educators then meet with clients about once a week, usually in clients’ homes, for lessons on life skills and family resource management.
As they work with participants, educators make referrals to other service agencies as needed, including mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, community action agencies, and parenting groups. Educators also provide mentoring and personalized assistance related to practical and personal issues. For example, they may coach clients on making a difficult telephone call to a child’s school or on getting help to resolve legal problems.
Educators use “success markers” to monitor participants’ progress. The success markers specify behaviors the program seeks to encourage and allow educators to rate how often participants demonstrate the behaviors. Participants complete their BNF educational plans by meeting established goals that demonstrate improvement in life skills, such as exiting TANF, gaining employment, or achieving stability in their lives. When participants are employed or off TANF, educators provide regular, but less frequent, follow-up support, as needed, for up to six months.
Administration and Institutional Partners
BNF is operated by the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension (UNCE) under contract to the Nebraska Health and Human Services System (NHHS). Because NHHS has collaborated with UNCE in the past, it has been easy for these agencies to partner in this program. NHHS provides funding and referrals to BNF and appoints representatives from NHHS service areas to the statewide BNF advisory committee. Local NHHS offices identify and refer appropriate TANF clients to the BNF program and monitor their progress. Responsibility for day-to-day administration of the program rests with the BNF program coordinator, who provides guidance to the extension educators who work with participants across the service areas.
Program Context
Geography and Economy. The BNF program operates in rural areas across Nebraska, covering more than half of the state’s counties. Individual BNF service areas usually encompass three to six counties. Almost half of Nebraska’s 1.7 million people live in rural places, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. These areas are largely homogeneous in racial and ethnic composition; nearly all residents are white. However, some rural communities have experienced a recent influx of refugees, other immigrants, and migrant workers. Entry-level jobs for low-skilled workers in rural areas commonly include jobs at local nursing homes and assisted-care facilities, clerical and administrative support positions, assembly line work at local factories, and housekeeping, food service, and other service work.
Welfare Policy. Nebraska’s TANF program, Employment First, uses a flexible, human capital investment approach to help clients develop the skills to transition to work within a two-year period. Participation in employment-related activities for 30 hours a week is mandatory for non-exempt TANF clients, including BNF participants. While many clients who are job ready are encouraged to enter the job market quickly, the program also provides support for short-term education and vocational training. Across the state, contractors to HHSS provide employment services, such as job search assistance, to TANF clients. Although Nebraska’s welfare caseload has declined less than the national average, the fraction of Nebraska’s TANF clients who work or participate in work activities is higher than in many states.
Key Implementation Experiences
- BNF offers much more individual support
to clients, primarily through its focus on life skills education, than
is available otherwise. The BNF program coordinator requires
educators to structure their work with participants around educational
activities. Educators provide substantial noneducational support (such
as referrals and contacts with other service providers). However, they
are encouraged to frame their advice and assistance to clients in educational
terms—teaching clients how to solve problems or overcome obstacles
themselves, rather than doing it for them. Small caseloads of 10 to
20 allow educators to individualize their services.
- BNF has maintained substantial stability in staffing and leadership. There has been limited turnover among BNF staff. All BNF educators are master’s-level professionals with previous work experience. Most educators have stayed with the BNF program for a year or more, and the program coordinator has been with BNF since its inception. This stability has facilitated staff development and consistency in service delivery.
- To boost recruitment, BNF and HHSS have worked together to market the program as a positive opportunity. While the personal nature of BNF and its focus on home visits makes some clients reluctant to get involved, enrollment in BNF has been relatively steady. BNF educators attempt to demonstrate the benefits of the program by periodically conducting short, one-time, life skills sessions open to all TANF clients. Contractual incentives also help with client recruitment: HHSS compensates UNCE on a case-rate basis, paying a fixed amount per BNF client per month.
- Most referred clients meet regularly with educators, but some clients are difficult to engage or exit the program after only a short time. Most BNF clients meet regularly and often with educators. BNF staff members report, however, that as many as one-third of referred clients are marginally, or not at all, involved in the program, despite educators’ attempts to make home visits or contacts. Some clients are initially engaged but then stop participating because they lose interest or move. Educators eventually drop nonparticipating clients from the program. Clients in the evaluation sample have participated for an average of 5 months; records since the program’s inception indicate that some clients stay in the program for 18 months or longer.
- Many BNF clients appear to enter employment. According to program data covering March 2002 through February 2003, of clients who have been in the program three months or more, about 45 percent have been able to maintain employment most of the time for at least one month, and more than a quarter have done so for at least three months (although these months may not be continuous).
| Tennessee First Wheels | return to top |
Overview
The First Wheels program provides interest-free car loans to low-income families who need transportation to get to work and improve their quality of life. To be eligible to apply for a loan, a person must be employed and a current or former client of Families First, Tennessee’s TANF program, or a recipient of food stamps or child care assistance. Applicants approved for a loan gain access to a supply of reliable used cars and receive assistance securing related services such as car insurance and repair. In addition, First Wheels offers families an opportunity to gain experience managing household finances. It also encourages accountability by requiring clients to make regular loan payments and maintain their cars.
The First Wheels program will participate in only the process study component of the Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration Evaluation. Due to limited enrollment, it will not be possible to complete impact and cost-benefit studies of the program.
Service Delivery
Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) caseworkers help recruit clients for the First Wheels program, then initiate their application process. Applicants must have a clean driving record, take financial management training, view a video on car maintenance, and prepare a personal budget demonstrating their ability to make loan payments. Applications that meet all requirements are forwarded to a local loan committee, made up of community volunteers and a THDS administrator, that makes a final decision regarding the loan. To set a reasonable repayment schedule for clients, most loans are approved for a term of 30 to 36 months and an amount of $2,400 to $3,100.
After the loan is approved, First Wheels program managers help clients acquire vehicles and monitor loan payments and vehicle maintenance. The program managers also use a network of community partners, including car suppliers, insurers, and mechanics, to help clients access goods and services they may need at an affordable price. Once customers make all of the installment payments on their loans, First Wheels transfers full ownership of their vehicles to them.
Administration and Institutional Partners
TDHS and the Tennessee Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) operate the First Wheels program together; it is the first time these two agencies are joining in a statewide collaboration. TDHS provides funding, makes referrals, and coordinates the loan application process, while RC&D purchases vehicles and manages individual loans under a contract with TDHS. The program staff includes a director who oversees day-to-day program operations and four to six program managers who provide services in territories of 10 to 20 counties each.
Program Context
Geography and Economy. The TDHS districts included in the First Wheels demonstration evaluation cover the entire state of Tennessee, except for four urban counties (Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Shelby). The 91 counties in the evaluation area are home to about 2.2 million people, about two-fifths of the state’s population. Economic conditions in rural Tennessee are generally worse than in the state as a whole. In February 2003, 14 of the 15 nonmetropolitan areas had unemployment rates higher than the statewide average: 5.6 to 10.1 percent, compared with 5.1 percent. Poverty in rural parts of Tennessee also tends to be higher—13.5 percent of the statewide population lived in poverty in 1999, but 15.4 of the nonmetropolitan population lived in poverty at the same time.
Welfare Policy. Families First, Tennessee’s TANF program, aims to strengthen families, improve the state’s workforce, and reduce poverty and welfare dependence. Families First clients must complete a personal responsibility plan and participate in work activities for 40 hours a week. These activities may include full- or part-time employment, job search, community service, GED, or postsecondary training or education directly related to employment. About two-fifths of the state’s TANF caseload lives in rural parts of the state. Unlike many other states, Tennessee designates transportation as an entitlement for TANF recipients, and periods in which a client cannot access transportation in order to meet TANF-related obligations do not count toward cash assistance time limits.
Key Implementation Experiences
- First Wheels program managers focus on addressing clients’ individual transportation needs, holding them accountable for meeting loan obligations, and providing ongoing support for car ownership. Program managers prioritize matching a client’s personal and financial situation with a suitable vehicle, to increase the chances that the client will fulfill repayment obligations. Program managers appear firm in their approach to collecting loan payments, but they do make some accommodations for difficult circumstances in clients’ lives. Vehicle repossession is considered a last resort, and the program’s repossession rate is relatively low, about nine percent. The First Wheels program has placed approximately 400 vehicles with clients from its inception in March 2000 through June 2003. Clients have paid off about 14 percent of these vehicle loans so far.
- Outreach to potential clients has been a major challenge for First Wheels. First Wheels has served many fewer clients than expected in rural areas. Several factors have contributed to this result. First, state and regional administrators have not consistently and vigorously promoted First Wheels to local offices, which may have led local staff to overlook the program in the face of competing priorities and high workloads. Outreach also has been hampered by an unclear division of responsibility between TDHS and RC&D. Another factor inhibiting outreach is the perception among some local staff that the First Wheels application process is onerous because it involves several steps and requires that applicants prepare a household budget. Finally, the program’s relatively demanding eligibility criteria, which included two months of employment for most clients, may have amplified the sentiment among staff that suitable clients are difficult to identify.
- The First Wheels program has been successful in acquiring reliable and affordable vehicles for clients. The program has secured privileged access to used state vehicles through an agreement with the state of Tennessee. These vehicles are generally in better condition and more affordable than those on the open market. First Wheels program staff throughout the state are able to select from this pool of state vehicles for their clients.
- Plans to help First Wheels clients improve their credit records were not realized. The First Wheels program had planned to report the payment histories of successful clients to credit bureaus in order to help clients establish a positive credit record. Credit bureaus charge substantial fees to receive such information, however, and require that it be sent in a specialized format. First Wheels administrators chose not to undertake this task because of the financial and logistical demands it would place on the program.
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